There is no question that the future of offshore exploration lies in the deep and ultra-deep water, and that the established deep-water quartet of Angola, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and Nigeria, will lead the way in terms of new fields coming on-stream. Before the industry can unlock the deep water and ultra-deep water potential, there are varieties of technological, environmental, and regulatory challenges that must be addressed with an integrated perspective, to find agreeable and implementable solutions.

Nevertheless, the offshore exploration strategies currently in place include the major developments in the Arabic Gulf, of prime importance for the technological advanced they have brought to the industry, as well as the expansion of the production capacity this brings to several of the largest traditional producers of oil in the region.

Environmental concerns are paramount in offshore, as they are the single biggest, obvious, and immediate challenge the industry faces. Hence, operators must not only minimise the impact on the environment, but also make sure these efforts answer the questions and concerns of regulators and the public. Advances in drilling and production technology are obviously required to not only reach, but also profitably exploit deep-water and ultra-deep-water plays. Profitability is the ultimate driver in offshore exploration, and the addition of a drilling function, preferably riserless, to floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) systems, could conceivably enable the production from deep-water plays anywhere in the world with minimum dependence on shore-based facilities. New technology is part of the equation to reduce costs, factoring down the barrel cost and, at the same time, overcoming capability limitations.

Kuwait has revealed plans to start drilling in its offshore platform. A new offshore exploration drilling campaign is now expected to get underway within the coming year, raising the bar on the oil sector challenges for the country, and greatly enriching the portfolio of opportunities ahead. In Kuwait, the Middle East, and all other frontiers where offshore exploration and production is in sight, the human talent is the key factor, as the highest-level skills and experience are required to execute operations safely and efficiently. The panellists will discuss their own insights on offshore, detailing their organisations’ perspectives on challenges and successes in offshore technology, plans, implementations, and developments.